pls help: dog got scary aggressive toward friends last night

[charlatti]

I'm not an expert, but maybe a trip to the vet to rule out anything physical? It sounds like it came on fairly suddenly, so there could possibly be a physical cause. From there I'd go to a behaviorist or different trainer.

[mala]

I would go to another trainer. From what you have described it sounds like a confidence problem. Perhaps he's lashing out because he feels insecure. If he is in pain from an undiagnosed problem, that could also explain it. A vet check up is definitely in order.

Also, you're husband is an idiot. If a dog snaps at a guest (without obvious provocation) chances are slim that you can calm the dog and not have a repeat. In that situation you have no idea what the trigger was and therefore no way to avoid the trigger. The dog should have been isolated until the guests were gone.

During these incidents I assume your dog was not on a leash or tied up in any way?

[RoxMonster]

Roxie did this the first time we had friends over after we adopted her.

If you've had your dog awhile without incident and this is a new development, I would first rule out a medical issue by going to the vet. If all comes back OK, I would check into an animal behaviorist. Honestly we've had one come to our house for the past few months every 3-4 weeks and it has been amazing. With Roxie it was fear aggression (she didn't snap out of the blue; she gave us warning signals first) so we have been working on having people come in the house and doing some positive reinforcement and conditioning to get her used to strangers entering the front door and associating that with something positive (very high value treats).

It sounds like every time he snapped he was startled (someone coming into the house or getting up and moving around). So it could be a fear issue if it isn't anything medical.

[Deleted]

I would check with the vet's office to see if anything is medically wrong, but I would also be calling a dog behaviorist asap too.

[redheadbaker]

Can you elaborate more on how your H "let the dog know who's in charge"?

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